Singer-actress Kristen Chenoweth has created quite a stir in recent times for her work on Glee and in Wicked. Long a versatile actress who easily shifts between television, stage and film roles, she is also a talented singer who enjoys performing both standards and contemporary songs.

Born in Oklahoma in 1968, Kristin performed gospel music as a child in churches and studied opera when she was quite young. At Oklahoma City University, she earned a degree in musical theater and a masters in opera performance. She also won a scholarship to Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts. However while she was in New York helping a friend move, she auditioned for the musical Animal Crackers, gained an important part, and turned down the scholarship, deciding to pursue a career in musical theater. She has been very busy ever since.

After Animal Crackers finished its run, the singing actress appeared in several regional productions including Babes In Arms, Phantom (for which she toured Germany), The Fantasticks, Box Office Of The Damned, and Scapin. In 1997 she had her Broadway debut in the musical Steel Pier. Next up were productions of the Gershwins’ Strike Up The Band and A New Brain. The 1999 Broadway revival of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown found her playing Charlie Brown’s younger sister, a role that was not in the original production and that resulted in her winning the Tony award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She has since starred on Broadway in Epic Proportions, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, The Apple Tree and, most notably, Wicked In the latter musical about the early years of the witches from the Wizard of Oz, she originated the role of Glinda. Kristin is currently in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises. But Broadway and the stage in general are only part of Kristen’s career.

In films, she has played supporting roles in such movies as Bewitched, The Pink Panther, Running With Scissors, RV and Deck The Halls. As a recording artist, her debut album was Let Yourself Go which is comprised of standards from 1930s musicals. Since then she has recorded As I Am (a Christian music album) and A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas which is filled with her versions of Yuletide favorites.

Kristin Chenoweth first acted on television in 1999. She had her own short-lived sitcom Kristin in 2001 and made many guest appearances in a variety of series. She gained strong notices for her work as a regular on The West Wing during 2004-06 and Pushing Daisies during 2007-09.

But it is for her role as April Rhodes in Glee that Kristin Chenoweth has gained the most notoriety. First cast as a guest star in 2009, she has returned several times since, playing a former member of the glee club who has gone through some hard times after not completing high school. All of her experiences on Broadway, as a recording artist, and as a film and television actress have come together in this memorable role. Kristin’s acting and singing have gained her very good reviews, adding to her popularity and fame.

The Pocket Songs double CD Songs In The Style Of Kristin Chenoweth gives her fans an opportunity to sing the songs that she loves. Whether it is classic standards such as “How Long Has This Been Going On,” “Nobody Else But Me” and “You’ll Never Know” or such recent songs as “Taylor The Latte Boy,” “If You Hadn’t But You Did” and “Going To The Dance With You,” these two discs (which include both complete versions and background tracks for each song) are a delightful tribute to the artistry of Kristin Chenoweth.

– Scott Yanow

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Lew Tabackin is best known as the featured soloist with the seminal big band he has co-led with Toshiko Akiyoshi since 1973. These two small group sessions were made in the late ‘70s as LPs for Inner City. Dual Nature refers to Tabackin’s two instruments – flute and tenor sax – the LP’s original sides devoted to one each. Rites of Pan features his flute throughout.

While jazz has rich tenor sax traditions, so rich they are often divided into schools or styles of playing, the flute has a more idiosyncratic jazz history. There are flute players rather than flute styles or traditions. And many of these players are saxophonists who double on flute and consider it a second instrument. However Tabackin majored in flute at the Philadelphia Conservatory and deems it an equal with his tenor sax as a solo vehicle. Tabackin’s flute sound is more forceful than full-bodied than most jazz flute players, with a big breathy tone; in that aspect, but little else, it shares a trait with his tenor sax playing.

Dual Nature is a quartet album featuring pianist Don Friedman, bassist Bob Daugherty and drummer Shelly Manne. The tenor tracks reference traditions from Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins to Ben Webster. The three flute tracks build incrementally in tempo, from the impressionistic, melodically meditative “Euterpe” through the mid-bounce of “Yellow Is Mellow” to the Latin-tinged swing of “Out of This World,” provocatively re-harmonized by Tabackin and featuring a drum solo that at times becomes a drum-flute duet.

Manne and Tabackin also have a more spirited (bordering on ‘out’-side) drum-flute duet on the improvised title track of Rites of Pan, Tabackin fluttering and popping over flurries of tattoos. There’s also a dazzling, quicksilver duet on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Be-Bop” between flute and John Heard’s bass. And another duet, “Elusive Dream,” between flute and Akiyoshi’s electric piano is a piece with lyrically legato flute and dreamy keyboard chords. Rites of Pan also features another improvised track: “Night Nymph,” a closely mic’d a cappella flute solo that incorporates the sound of breathes and gasps into the aural mix. The other three tracks are by a quartet with Akiyoshi on acoustic piano. Two are standards: a lilting version of Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz” and a “Speak Low” featuring alto flute that accelerates after a ballad beginning; both end with virtuoso flute codas. The longest, most intriguing track, Akiyoshi’s “Autumn Sea,” is a suite-like, multi-tempo piece based on traditional Japanese music for shakuhachi.

– George Kanzler, All Jazz NY